


Adaptation

by theemdash



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Comfort, Community: jd_ficathon, Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill Friendship, Episode: s09e09 Prototype, Friendship, Gen, Jack/Daniel Ficathon, Season/Series 09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-25 18:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20030098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theemdash/pseuds/theemdash
Summary: When the report about Khalek hits Jack's desk, he clears his schedule and books a trip to Colorado. He may not be good at talking about feelings, but he knows Daniel needs someone to talk to.





	Adaptation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sg_wonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/gifts).

> Thanks to [Melayne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelayneSeahawk/pseuds/MelayneSeahawk) and [green_grrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_grrl/pseuds/green_grrl) for beta duties.  
written for Jack/Daniel Ficathon XV; prompt from [sg_wonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland): Episode tag to Prototype. Jack worries about Daniel pulling that trigger but he's got it all wrong, so very wrong. "I haven't lost a minute of sleep over killing Kalek. So, tell me, Jack, what does that say about me?"

The cold report that hit his desk was enough of a warning bell, but when Jack got Hank on the phone and heard how Daniel had immediately advocated for killing Khalek, he cleared his schedule and booked a trip to Colorado. 

Ambushing Daniel at the SGC was expected, so Jack grabbed steaks, used the key Daniel had given him, and fired up the grill he'd insisted Daniel buy with the new house. Jack timed it right, finishing the steaks at almost the same time that Daniel's front door opened.

"Jack?" No question in his voice about who had violated his privacy, just confirming where Jack had landed in the sparsely decorated two-bedroom house.

"Back here," he called through the open door. The scenario was so familiar, Daniel wandering in through the kitchen and Jack grilling on the porch, that he almost forgot whose house it was. But one look at Daniel's carefully neutral expression reminded him just how much had changed.

"See you're comfortable using your key." Daniel leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pockets. "I didn't even know you were coming in."

"Surprise," Jack said, arms spreading. He held the pose for a moment, but Daniel didn't move in for a hug. Either Jack hadn't hit the right tone or Daniel was already suspicious. Or both.

Daniel jerked his chin at the plate of steaks. "You've got something green to go with that, right?"

"Parsley?" Jack joked, but he'd already handled everything and had the food sitting in Daniel's obviously unused dining room. Jack had half expected to find an in-progress translation spread across the table, but instead he'd found a thin layer of dust that probably said more about Daniel's off-world time than anything else.

"Impressive," Daniel said of the spread. "You know you don't have to play host when you're staying in my house, right?"

Jack shrugged, trying again for nonchalance as he brought the last plates to the table. "Old habit."

They sat across from each other in the neutral toned dining room and ate. Jack made small talk about his travel and Daniel told Jack about the recent construction on his commute. Uncomplicated, simple, boring chatter that vaguely masked they were both apprehensive about why Jack was there. So much for Jack easing into the conversation.

"Daniel," he said, at the same time Daniel said, "Jack," and it was clear both of them were done pussyfooting. 

His steak was half-eaten, an inconvenient time to start this, and for a second Jack considered making up something so he could at least finish dinner, but then he was confessing: "You know I didn't just drop in."

"Yeah, figured that. Pretending you did wasn't really working for either of us, huh?"

"Not so much."

"Then…?"

"Khalek."

Daniel's eyebrows rose and he sat back in his chair. He looked like he'd guessed why Jack was there—he always liked being right—but he was obviously uncomfortable about the subject. He traced his fork in a circle on his plate. "I take it you read the report."

"I read all the reports." All of them, including the ones filed by Woolsey during the whole fiasco while Jack was stuck in Washington yelling at a computer screen to trust Daniel, for cryin' out loud. No one knew the Ancients—or especially Anubis—like Daniel did. And few people knew Daniel like Jack did. "I may have some concerns."

"About me?"

Jack pressed his lips together, finger tapping a slow rhythm against his unused salad fork, letting Daniel fill in the blanks with whatever he thought that meant.

Daniel reached for his water glass and casually said, "I haven't lost a minute of sleep over killing Khalek."

"Yeah, not exactly my concern here. The bastard needed to die and you knew it."

Daniel twisted the glass, spreading the ring of condensation on the table. "Not what I expected you to say."

"Daniel." He leaned forward, fidgeting hands finally stilling. He hated getting into all this. Hated that he had to say it, but Daniel needed to hear it. Daniel wouldn't be able to put it behind him until he'd talked, and Jack doubted he'd talk unless Jack opened up first. "As much as you'll always be a geek, you're trained to be a soldier. You've been through too much shit—" Lived too long beside me, Jack didn't say. "—and have been on active duty for the last nine years. I know decorated officers with less combat experience than you." 

Daniel's eyes dipped in quiet recognition of the praise, his pride sparking the same feeling in Jack. He was proud of what Daniel had become, even if he sometimes hated himself for corrupting the pacifist. Crushing reality into Daniel Jackson's indefatigable optimism had been the worst part of the Stargate Program. Especially considering how often that reality came with personal loss. 

"The thing I was worried about—worried about for you—is that you were going up against Anubis again." Jack's mouth tightened for a moment around the memories. "And I know how that guy gets to you."

Daniel's gaze was steely, his jaw a tight square. Jack had hit a nerve. 

"You were right about Khalek," he said when Daniel didn't speak. "About what to do. You made a tough call. You didn't let your emotions get in the way."

"Didn't I?" Daniel cut in. His jaw was still tight, but his voice shook, emotion lacing through and binding those two words so that they came out in a strangle. "I know I was right, but it doesn't change the fact that I was afraid. And I can't help—" He looked away, speaking the rest to the window. "I hate that I'm still afraid of him."

Jack pressed his hand against the table to keep himself from reaching across for Daniel. "Yeah, well, he's a scary guy." 

That pulled Daniel's attention back to Jack, bemusement tugging his features. "That is… less reassuring than you might expect."

Jack squinted and tilted his head, playing up the casualness to keep things light and keep Daniel from shutting down. "Not sure there's much to reassure."

"Oh. Oh, that's better then, thanks." 

The heavy sarcasm was a shield they both needed in moments like this. The fact that Daniel had admitted his fear was enough. Fear wasn't something that could be defeated in a day, especially when it was a fear rooted in a very real threat. Anubis might be neutralized for the time being, but their track record with resurrection, clones, and sons-of didn't count him out. Hell, some days Jack was looking over his shoulder for Apophis and it'd been years since they last laid eyes on him. 

"How you doing now? Now that it's over. Khalek's dead."

Daniel opened his mouth, the same response he'd had ready for the SGC clearly on the tip of his tongue, but Jack held up a hand.

"Daniel. Come on, it's me."

He snapped his mouth shut and looked past Jack's shoulder again. A muscle in his cheek twitched, and Jack knew he was searching for just the right word to describe how he was feeling. 

After a long silence he said, "Shitty."

Jack shook his head, amused by Daniel's choice of words. "Fair."

"Listen." Daniel adjusted his glasses, meeting Jack's eyes without hesitation for the first time. "It's… really kind of amazing that you came here to talk about my _feelings_."

"Me of all people, right?"

"Right," Daniel said, the grin lighting up his whole face for a shining moment. Jack could imagine all the conversations Daniel had tried to have and Jack had dodged flitting through Daniel's memories rapid fire. "But I don't really—"

Comfort came in all forms. With Daniel it was words, talking, explaining his feelings and understanding the feelings of someone else. He found comfort in intellectualism and analyzing, in dissecting the thing until the feeling could be controlled. But for Jack comfort had always been about touch.

He'd been going about this all wrong.

Jack stood, the motion stopping Daniel's words mid-sentence. He came around the edge of the table and caught Daniel's hand. Physical intimacy between them had tapered off over the years, but Daniel didn't startle the way Jack had expected. Maybe Daniel knew it was coming, maybe he'd been waiting for Jack to reach out. 

"Come on," Jack said, giving a light tug to Daniel's hand and coaxing him out of the chair. He folded Daniel in a hug, nerves coiling under his skin until Daniel's arms enveloped him, too. He turned his head to Daniel, letting his mouth press against Daniel's throat. Daniel's hand fisted on Jack's shoulder, pulling his shirt tight. Jack kept his hands still, steady points of contact that Daniel could trust. 

Jack held him for a long time, waiting for the moment when Daniel would say something and squirm away, the physical contact too much for him the way talking about emotions was usually too much for Jack. But they had both changed so much, opened up for each other until they had both learned a shared language, common ground between them created instead of found. Because despite their fears, they had adapted. 

Daniel held on to Jack, pressing his cheek against Jack's head, and slowly, eventually, Jack stopped wondering when Daniel would let go.


End file.
